Potentiation of Curcumin-loaded zeolite Y nanoparticles/PCL-gelatin electrospun nanofibers for postsurgical glioblastoma treatment

Currently, localized drug delivery vehicles based on implantable electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds have attracted enormous interest in eradicating cancer cells and regenerating the tissue defects after tumor removal. In the present investigation, zeolite Y nanoparticles (nZY) were exploited to load Curcumin (Curc) as a potent natural anticancer agent. Then the synthesized Curc@nZY were integrated into a hybrid of PCL-gelatin electrospun nanofibers (Curc@nZY-PG NFs). XRD, FTIR, FE-SEM, TEM, and BET were exploited to characterize the physicochemical and morphological characteristics of the prepared nanoparticles and NFs. Apart from in vitro drug release testing, MTT assay, scratch assay, DAPI staining, and qPCR were applied to assess the in vitro anticancer efficiency of Curc@nZY-PG NFs against U87-MG glioblastoma cells after three days of incubation time. Based on the findings, it was found that the bead-free, randomly oriented electrospun PG NFs were loaded successfully with Curc@nZY. Also, applying nZY to load Curc into the PG NFs led to a steadier drug release over a relatively long period compared to Curc-PG NFs so that 33.5% and 47% of Curc were liberated from Curc@nZY-PG NFs within 72 h and 14 days, respectively. Besides, the cells exposed to the Curc@nZY-PG NFs exhibited superior cytotoxicity, anti-cell migratory activity, and pro-apoptotic effect against the glioblastoma cells. Therefore, it can be speculated that the development of Curc@nZY-PG composite electrospun mats might act as a highly promising and safe localized drug delivery approach for potential postsurgical glioblastoma treatment.